10 replies to this topic

[AntsMAN]

Its been upwards of 30C or higher in my area for a month and 1/2 now with no rain at all, this is very abnormal. I haven't seen even 1/3 of the ants I usually see, and when observing wild colonies yesterday there was little to no activity. Same goes for the sidewalks and pathways.

[Batspiderfish]

The July flights have been about half a month late in Portland Maine as well, although surrounding areas seem to have been more or less been on schedule.

[dspdrew]

It's been a HORRIBLE anting season in Southern California this year. It's August and we still have not gotten any real monsoon activity in the deserts, and even though it's been fairly hot lately, I haven't seen anything the last few times I went looking in the foothills around here.

[Vendayn]

It's been a HORRIBLE anting season in Southern California this year. It's August and we still have not gotten any real monsoon activity in the deserts, and even though it's been fairly hot lately, I haven't seen anything the last few times I went looking in the foothills around here.

On the plus side, those dumb annoying Argentine ants aren't nearly as much of a problem this year as last year. Their population around my apartment building has dropped over 95%. There are barely any of them. Down at the river there are still a lot, but even then, the population has dropped a considerable amount. Considering usually along the river there are tens to hundreds of millions, and this year is vastly less, that is a big improvement. I don't know if that is everywhere or not, but even with the nightly irrigation, Argentine ant population has greatly diminished in my local area.

Edited by Vendayn, August 1 2016 - 9:32 AM.

[Goldsystem]

Ya I have noticed the nuptial flights taking longer than Normal here in Portland Oregon aswell

[AntsMAN]

Rough year for the ants, hopefully things get better.

[Loops117]

Wonder how this is gonna play off with hibernation.

[EstuaryAnts]

Trachymymrex ended up flying a month early here in Texas.

[Vendayn]

The other issue is if this Winter (at least in Southern California) is as dry or drier than the Winter we had. Last Winter, it was supposed to be the wettest Winter in decades. It turns out, we had the driest Winter we ever had. The rain went north. But, even then. Washington usually still gets a lot of rain, but this year its been dry even for them.

 

It is bad for native ants, but at least Argentine ants have been decimated in numbers (like I said) due to the weather. But, it isn't very good for native ants either. I don't imagine the Acromyrmex versicolor out in Joshua National Park are faring too well either, since they rely on the Summer storms.

 

But as I was saying. If this Winter is just as dry or drier (last Winter, we really only had one serious storm, and it wasn't even THAT big), there will be some pretty serious problems all around. Not just for ants, but for people and other wildlife.

Edited by Vendayn, August 1 2016 - 3:08 PM.

[Saftron]

North California hasn't received any rain since February so yeah.... not a good season at all....

[AntsTexas]

west texas too, no Pogonomyrmex flights yet